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Each communications medium has its own special advantages. Below, you'll find an overview of the various media, and their attributes.
| BROADCAST
TELEVISION |
| Strengths |
Weaknesses |
| Dramatic, emotional presentation |
Highest cost from production and placement perspectives |
| Highest geographic reach potential via networks |
Commercial clutter |
| Ability to reach local markets via individual stations |
Limited ability to target specific audiences |
| Rapidly builds awareness of advertiser |
Skews to lower income, less educated audiences |
| CABLE TELEVISION |
| Strengths |
Weaknesses |
| Dramatic, emotional presentation |
Lower ratings |
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Audience selectivity |
Commercial clutter equal or greater than network TV |
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Geographic flexibility |
High production costs |
| Upscale average audience |
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Lower cost than broadcast networks |
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| DIRECT MAIL |
| Strengths |
Weaknesses |
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Ability to reach mass and targeted audiences |
Relatively high cost to produce, deliver high impact piece |
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Highly measurable |
Clutter |
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Ability to personalize messages |
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Geographic flexibility |
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Production flexibility |
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Potential for long life |
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| INTERNET
ADVERTISING |
| Strengths |
Weaknesses |
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Capture audience in the act of shopping |
Clutter, clutter, clutter |
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Narrowly select target by site appeal |
Ability of consumer to strip ads from their computers |
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Instant interaction |
Relatively high cost for reaching highly targeted audience
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Instant copy change |
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Customer relationship building |
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Target customer and deliver ads based on customer profile |
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Streaming allows TV-like audio video |
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| MAGAZINES |
| Strengths |
Weaknesses |
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Audience selectivity |
Long lead times for reserving space and submitting ads |
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Efficiency in reaching selective audiences, e.g. upscale |
Slow accumulation of audience |
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Geographic targeting |
Not intrusive
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Quality color reproduction |
Limited positioning |
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Long shelf life |
Clutter |
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Pass-along audience |
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Merchandising and promotional support |
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| NEWSPAPERS |
| Strengths |
Weaknesses |
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Immediacy |
Relatively high cost |
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Local emphasis |
Cluttered environment |
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Geographic flexibility |
Inconsistent ad reproduction quality
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Flexible production |
Readership skews older |
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Control of insert quality |
Lacks audience selectivity |
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Broad reach |
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Sections provide editorial climate |
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| NEWSPAPER
SUPPLEMENTS |
| Strengths |
Weaknesses |
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Broad Sunday audience |
High cost per insertion |
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High-quality color reproduction |
Lacks audience selectivity |
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Geographic flexibility |
Long lead-time commitment
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Production flexibility |
Limited editorial support |
| OUTDOOR |
| Strengths |
Weaknesses |
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Broad local market coverage |
Not appropriate for complex messages |
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Neighborhood selectivity |
Availability varies dramatically |
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High frequency against mobile target groups |
Not a primary medium, best in support to others
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Large message size |
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Geographic, production flexibility |
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| RADIO |
| Strengths |
Weaknesses |
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Audience selectivity through programming format |
Non-intrusive, background medium |
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Low cost, efficient audience delivery |
Clutter |
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Reach of mobile target groups |
Audience fragmentation
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Local emphasis of station coverage |
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Immediacy |
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Pre-shopping exposure |
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